Find Financial News Online

I learned about SmartyPig at the Finovate conference, and wanted to try the online savings account for myself. I currently have an ING savings account and think I do a pretty good job socking some funds away each month for a rainy day, but you can always save more, right?

Based on the demonstration at the conference, SmartyPig seemed like a fun way to save cash for specific goals. Here’s how it works, and why it’s different from other online saving tools.

The sign-up process

When you sign-up with SmartyPig, you are also really signing up for a new savings account through their banking partner, West Bank.

Full Article…

Credit card provider Sainsbury’s Finance has released new research suggesting that British motorists could save a total of £229 million over the next six months if they are prepared to haggle on the price of their new car.

According to Sainsbury’s Finance, those who do haggle could save as much as 50% on the list price of a new car.

The research found that 121,000 out of 1.14 million Brits who plan to buy a new car between now and February next year do not plan to haggle over the price.

Steven Baillie, head of Sainsbury’s loans said: “Our research suggests that with stereotypical British reserve, many of us don’t haggle hard despite the big savings that can be made, so we’d urge car buyers to give it a go.”

Sainsbury’s Finance is also currently offering a credit card with a typical variable rate of 15.9% APR.

Full Article…

This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman.

A college professor once told my journalism class that freelance writing is something you should do on the side. It’s not anything you could make a living at full-time. 

I graduated and worked at an office job until I decided I wanted to become self-employed and do something that would give me more free time to write. A real job and a writer on the side, just like the professor had suggested. I went into real estate.

To say it was an awful fit would be an understatement. The very thought of cold-calling made me want to stay in bed with the covers over my head. Wha

Full Article…

The Circle of Life is almost complete at Walmart. I just discovered that Walmart now offers a large selection of caskets for those of us who are planning for the great hereafter. I suppose that it can’t be too long before Walmart also offers a mid-wife service, and after that, dormitories for its workers. People will be born, live and die without ever having to go anywhere else.

Thinking about death is not fun, but it is something that we all do. Planning for death is perhaps even less pleasant, if that is possible, and it is something that not enough of us take the time to consider. Plenty of people before me have written about planning for funerals and post-final illness expenses. I

Full Article…

Are you trying to keep your head above water and manage your credit card debt? Do you hate going to the mail box every day? This has become a problem for many people and can lead to both health and relationship problems. The sooner you can address your debt and find a way that you can begin to emerge from your current financial situation; the sooner things will improve in other areas of your life. But it can be difficult to know where to begin when you are overwhelmed with debt. I can consume you can make it difficult to think about anything else.

The best way to get out of debt is to follow a proven plan. There are several financial experts that have laid out step by step plans for getting out of debt. Full Article…